The Official Blog of Bobs and Lolo

The last month has been filled with pancakes and bubbles, cowboys and jellyfish, heat waves and hailstorms, singing, dancing and more! Our musical adventures have been a little like a rollercoaster ride over prairies, mountains and sea by boat, plane, car and foot! Since our last report from the road, we made it through 10-days straight at the Calgary Stampede, a flurry of shows closer to home in the Lower Mainland of BC and a visit to the remote beauty of the Queen Charlotte Islands. With lots of ups and a few downs (missed our flight home from Calgary!), the brightest parts have been the constant reminder of just how amazing our travels truly are with new friends, places and experiences around every turn!

North Beach on Graham Island!

Two short weeks ago we arrived home following a run of 35 shows at the Calgary Stampede…yes - 35! Highlights of our Alberta adventures included our wonderful host family (the Tait’s!), a nerve-wracking yet exhilarating performance on the Grandstand Stage for nearly 15,000 people, bike rides, chuckwagons, ice cream treats and many new friends at Buckaroos!
 

Westcoast cowgirl – Bobs!

Morning ride around the Glenmore Reservoir!

Some of the Buckaroos team in the children’s area!

Trekking from the Grandstand Stage back to Buckaroos!

Our visit to the Calgary Stampede flew by in a blur of crazy shows, sightseeing and sleep deprivation! On our return to BC we had a couple of days to rest up before jumping into some shows near home. Special thanks to the families that came out to support Canuck Place at the Agoo Kids’ Day in Kits and all of the kidlets who joined in on the singing and dancing at the Shadbolt Centre’s Discovery Days Festival. We had a fabulous time at both events. If you have pics from the shows, please feel free to share them on our Facebook Group - we’d love to see them!

Most recently, we returned from a performance at the Tlell Fair on the beautiful Queen Charlotte Islands. The best word to describe this trip is magical! We spent three days exploring pieces of the most stunning land on the planet and felt honoured with the opportunity to meet some of the most kind and generous people you can find. Our thanks to Doug Mark Louis and the rest of the Tlell Fall Fair committee for inviting us to share in this year’s festivities and special appreciation to the Richardson Family for allowing us to make the Richardson Ranch “home” for a few days. We feel privileged to have spent some time exploring the farm and the surrounding community - a true west coast paradise!

Enjoying the beauty of nature at Tow Hill!

Enjoyed our history lesson with Grandpa Doug!

Curious pair of the award-winning Herefords on the Ranch!

We were also thrilled to have Mario Vaira join us on this recent trip. Mario came along to lend us his musical talents (guitar and backing vocals), but we also have to give him a shout out for bringing so much more to our musical adventures! We often refer to Mario as the “ampersand” in B&L as he is an integral part of our team from performing to production to design. Mario actually produced all three of our albums, including Action Packed which was recently nominated for a 2009 Western Canadian Music Award for Best Children’s Album of the Year! Yaaaa! Check out some of Mario’s other projects at www.fivefathomstudios.com.

Sound check at the Tlell Fall Fair!

After all this, it is crazy to think that summer is only halfway through! We have a number of shows coming up, including three fabulous events this weekend. Please join us for lots of free family fun!

Friday, August 7 - Harmony Arts Festival
Location: West Vancouver
Show Time: 10am

Saturday, August 8 - Vancouver Maritime Museum
Location: Vancouver
Show time: 11:30am

Sunday, August 9 – Kidtopia
Location: Surrey
Show time: 2:45pm

Thanks for tuning in for some of our stories from the road! We hope to be in your neighbourhood soon!

Bobs & Lolo

We wanted to post a brief note to wish all of you a happy belated Canada Day and share some stories from our festive July 1st adventures before we dive into our run of shows at the Calgary Stampede. 

We’re writing this from a cozy basement in the home of our fabulous Calgary host family – the Tait’s! It is crazy to reflect back on how much happened yesterday and to think that less than 24 hours ago, we were just stepping onto a stage in Coquitlam, BC.

Our Canada Day festivities began in partnership with the City of Coquitlam during the first annual family celebration at Lafarge Lake. This fantastic event was capped by sunny skies, a fabulous team of staff and volunteers and hundreds of kids, adults and entire families sporting their patriotic reds and whites! Special thanks to all the kids and the super-talented Currie “Chuckles” Creelman (piano) and Mario “Marstar” Vaira (guitar) for helping us rock the show! Sadly, we didn’t get any photos from the performance, but if anyone out there is willing to share, please send pics to fanmail@bobsandlolo.com or post them on our Facebook Group.

Immediately following our performance in Coquitlam, we motored over to Kitsilano in Vancouver to set-up for a performance on the Showboat Stage. Set against the beautiful backdrop of Vancouver’s English Bay and the North Shore mountains, this was definitely one of the most picturesque venues we have performed in…and one of the windiest! The Kits Showboat Stage is managed completely by volunteers, and presents live entertainment weekly throughout the summer months. Our thanks to the families that joined us to kick-off the Canada Day entertainment and extra hugs to the kids for retrieving all of our wayward props that blew away in the refreshing ocean “breeze”.

If two shows in two cities in one 4 hour period wasn’t already enough craziness for Canada Day, scheduling a flight to Calgary right after the second performance definitely put the icing on the cake! It was a bit of a mad scramble to re-organize our stuff to prepare for the flight. Vancouver-ites may have even spotted us on the side of the road after our Kits show, although you may have easily mistaken our organizational strategy as a set-up for a sidewalk “garage” sale!

Thanks to a wonderful chauffeur (yaaaa Mario!) and a sweet airport limo (1974 volkswagon van!), we made it on time, with all of our luggage, to YVR.

Our next hurdle was checking in all of our gear – $350 in extra baggage fees this time around (ouch!) – and getting it through security. We had a fifteen minute hang-up when the metal-hinged tree stand Lolo decided to carry on flagged a security check. It caused quite a flurry of excitement for the security officials who put the bag through the x-ray three times over, unpacked everything and then stared in confusion at the brightly coloured green, collapsible stand.  Only in the B&L world…

We’re now settling in nicely in Calgary, and we are just about to head over to Stampede Park for sound check and final preparations for tonight’s first show. We’ll be around town until July 13th with 35 shows scheduled for the next 10 days! If you’re in the neighbourhood, please join us for some cow-town inspired musical adventures! For a full list of our Stampede performance times and dates, please click here.

Yeehaw!

Bobs & Lolo

Vancouver-based children’s entertainers, Bobs & Lolo, take their award-winning music on the road for a run of 35 shows at one of Canada’s largest outdoor events!

Bobs & Lolo will hit the stage daily at this year’s world-renowned Calgary Stampede. With a well-established fan base in their home province of BC and growing national adoration, Robyn Hardy (Bobs) and Lorraine Pond (Lolo) are looking forward to sharing their live programming with families in Alberta next month. Their extensive touring to date, plus regular spots on the national children’s network, Treehouse TV, is sure to have preschoolers, with parents in tow, lining up for a chance to see the live show.

What do the performers have to say?

Bobs: “We’re super excited to perform at the Calgary Stampede! We’ve had such a great year already with our recent Parents’ Choice Gold Award and the whole Treehouse thing…getting such a large contract with the Stampede really validates how far we’ve come in the last few years. It’s crazy to think that less than two years ago, we were still doing 3-4 birthday parties each weekend!”

Lolo: “Yeehaw! I can’t wait to unleash my inner cowgirl! We’re looking forward to all of the fun that goes along with sharing in a big event like this, although I think the main focus for Bobs and I will be staying healthy and rested so that we can survive performing 3+ shows per day for 10 days straight!”

Bobs & Lolo will be performing on the Buckaroos Stage at the Calgary Stampede from July 3 – 12 with shows daily at 2pm, 5pm & 7pm. Additional shows are scheduled for July 4, 5, 8, 11 & 12 at 11am. All Bobs & Lolo shows are FREE with general admission to Stampede Park.

To learn more about the Calgary Stampede, please visit www.calgarystampede.com.

Bobs & Lolo use music, movement and make-believe to share stories and experiences that both entertain and educate, while ultimately teaching children to care about themselves, their neighbours and the planet. Their programming places an emphasis on celebrating the values of healthy-living and aims to inspire young audiences with an awareness and appreciation for the world around them. Catch Bobs & Lolo live this summer (event calendar) or watch for their regular appearances on the national children’s television network, Treehouse TV.

For more information about Bobs & Lolo, please visit www.bobsandlolo.com.

We really had the best of intentions to blog sooner than this - truly. The last few weeks have flown by in a blur of festival craziness that we affectionately refer to as the Tour Time Warp. Do you ever have those moments where you have no idea what the date is and when you get a chance to look at a calendar you’re honestly surprised to learn that it is actually at least a week later than you thought?? We are sitting here now in a state of shock over the fact that it is June 18th today!?

Calendar shock aside, the weeks really are flying by, but it does seem that every moment these days is filled with lots of exciting opportunities and celebrations. Whether it’s a great show, fabulous fan mail, a CD sale or just another beautiful sunny day, we’ve been having some amazing moments during our crazy musical adventures this spring. Here’s a little recap on the latest fun…

We last wrote about our adventures in the Okanagan (love you Ogopogo!). That trip was followed by a brief stint at home where we joined in on the fun at the Surrey Children’s Festival. This event is still in it’s toddler years on the Canadian children’s fest circuit (< 5 years old), but don’t let that lower your expectations - these folks really know how to run an AMAZING festival! Our thanks and kudos to the wonderful crew, volunteers, students and families that made our 2009 experience such a great one. We were also thrilled to perform on the Leap Frog Stage to sold out crowds…yippee!

The next chapter in our story took us from Surrey to Saskatoon for our debut performances in Saskatchewan! We absolutely fell in love with Saskatoon and the Northern Saskatchewan Children’s Festival! We knew from the moment we arrived at the airport that this was going to be a fun trip. It’s always a good sign when the person (a stranger no less!) responsible for picking you up at the airport greets you with a great big hug! That first gesture of welcome truly set the tone for our entire trip as we quickly realized that we were not just sharing in a much-loved community event, but we were being welcomed into a festival family. This festival will stand out for many reasons, but one of the best things was the 800+ volunteers that commit their time each and every year to making it a superb experience for the kids. We also really felt honoured to be in the talent line-up, particularly given that we were in the company of Canadian legends like Connie Kaldor, up & coming superstars like Splash n’ Boots and inspiring & energetic international talent like Masabo!

The Saskatchewan children’s Festival takes place in picturesque Kiwanis Park on the riverbank.

We left Saskatoon four days and seven shows after our first airport hug with many new friends and heaps of happy memories! Shauna - please have us back!

Backstage with husband & wife duo, Splash n’ Boots. The funny thing is that we (B&L) kind of feel married sometimes too…

The final stop in our Tour Time Warp was the Bowen Island Children’s Country Fair. We actually flew into Vancouver from Saskatoon on the Saturday evening and went straight to the ferry for Bowen Island the next morning. It was a perfect westcoast home-coming celebration as we performed with our full band in the ocean breeze on the event’s outdoor stage. Perfect!

Thanks to all the families that joined us for a day on the island! While the annual event has come and gone this season, we did want to share the promo video that event coordinator, Cam Hayduk, put together. It remains one of our favourite marketing videos to date…be sure to watch out for next year’s festivities!

The pie contest alone was worth the trip to the island - delish!

As we wrap up this blog, we are in the process of getting ready for some Canada Day fun (two shows - Coquitlam & Kitsilano), which will immediately be followed by the CALGARY STAMPEDE! We’ll be heading to Alberta for 35 shows over 10 days…no that isn’t a typo…with a minimum of 3 shows and sometimes 4 or even (gulp!) 5 shows per day. If you’re going to be in the Calgary neighbourhood for the Stampede (Jul 3-12), please join us for some singing & dancing…hoedown style :) Visit us at the Buckaroos Stage, and check out the Calgary Stampede website for more info!

Hope to see you soon!

Bobs & Lolo

P.S. Congratulations to Chuckles, our keyboard player, and his wife Lucy on their new beautiful baby boy! We love you, Samuel!